Lime Farmers in Quintana Roo Face Market Crisis

Chetumal — In southern Quintana Roo, the production of Persian limes, concentrated mainly in the municipalities of José María Morelos and Othón P. Blanco, was for many years a profitable activity, to the extent that it displaced other crops such as corn and watermelon, with a wide range of options for its commercialization.

However, those currently dedicated to the cultivation of this citrus in communities like Morocoy face a critical situation, as they have not found a market to place their product, causing hundreds of tons to remain unharvested, generating significant losses and being exploited by coyotes who pay minimal amounts, said one of the affected producers, Aquilino Martínez Delgado.

“We do not have marketing markets, and the coyotes take advantage of that because they buy the products at very low prices, and many farmers have no other option but to sell to avoid losing the harvests. The coyotes are the ones who profit because they resell at higher prices; they buy a 33-kilogram box for 60 pesos, not even 2 pesos per kilo, and that is killing us because it leaves us without profits. We need help; there is a lot of production that no one buys and that is spoiling, and that is lamentable because it amounts to hundreds of tons,” he stated.

He indicated that the historical price they had was 700 pesos per box, and that was three years ago, while the maximum reached this year is barely 120 pesos, but prices plummeted, and now the average amount to at least obtain profits is 20 pesos per kilogram, which they are also not achieving due to lack of sales, leading many producers to opt for removing trees still laden with fruit.

He specified that the situation is already unsustainable, especially without a response to the requests for support they have made to state and municipal authorities regarding the possibility of having a collection center or a processing plant to prevent the production from rotting.

“A lot of production is spoiling, it is being thrown away because they consider it no longer profitable since harvesting costs more, and others are cutting down their trees even though they are laden because there is no way to sustain the activity. We urgently need a collection center or a processing plant or help to place our product to move forward, to stop buying from outside when there is too much production here; what is happening is worrying,” he added.

In Morocoy alone, there are at least 600 hectares of lime cultivation, and in each one, up to 4 tons can be extracted, which, if sold at fair prices, could be of great benefit to the thousands of families dedicated to this activity.